The Pros and Cons of Fixing Your Vegas Home Before Listing

We all know there are ups and downs to every decision. When it comes to selling your home, you might have a hard time letting go. Some people have only lived in one home for their entire lives, and the comfort of home can’t be left for the sake of just any reason. Or maybe your house is a dud, and you can’t wait to unload it onto the next person. Either way, you have to consider something that’s extremely important: whether or not to make repairs or renovations to your Las Vegas home before listing it for sale. The questions of which repairs should be made and how much to spend on fixing it up are equally important, but you’ll have plenty of options in Las Vegas, and time to consider each offer.

While you’re thinking things through, don’t feel you can’t ask for an outside opinion. Contact a local real estate agent, an appraiser, or a home inspector for their opinions. You’ll have plenty of options, remember, but you may not need all of the work that you think that you do before you list your Vegas home. It’s important to get as much information as you can about each available option, so be sure to reach out if you need help. 

Pros of Fixing Your Home: Better Listing Price

An updated home without internal issues and fresh landscaping is widely considered to be a turnkey home. Turnkeys are move-in ready homes, and nearly always command a higher price. Even better, turnkey homes in Las Vegas are the ones most likely to receive multiple bids, giving you the opportunity to get the best dollar amount for your home. 

Peace of Mind

Completing the necessary repairs for your home in Las Vegas also means that you won’t have to worry about them while you’re still living there. Replacing the washers in the sink, fixing the drains, and replacing the front door will have a strong, positive effect on your quality of life. You’ll also rest easier knowing that your home is the best that it can be because you decided to take action. This’ll inspire more confidence in you, knowing that your home is ready for anyone to walk through the door, and make an offer. 

Preventing or Exacerbating Damage

Repairing your home now could spare you a huge headache later. This is particularly true of plumbing and structural issues that are affecting your home. If you know there is a crack in your foundation, repairing it is a far better option than letting it deepen or lengthen. Reach out to a local real estate professional if you need a recommendation for foundation or plumbing repair. With plumbing, it’s important to be vigilant. Plumbing systems revolve entirely around safely and securely transporting water to different parts of a building. If you have a leaky pipe, the water dripping into the dark space of your walls have all of the darkness and the necessary Las Vegas warmth for mold to cultivate and thrive. Some molds can cause a variety of disturbing and life-threatening health issues. There are homes that have been condemned because of dangerous mold spores. Don’t let this happening your home, or to any space that you own. 

Kindness to New Owners

This may not be at the top of the list of priorities for every seller, but fixing your home before its listed is a good deed that will benefit the new owners of the home. Wouldn’t you, too, prefer to buy a home that didn’t require repairs on your first day of ownership? Recently-repaired homes are always attractive to potential buyers, and like turnkeys, can net you more money from a grateful party. 

Cons of Fixing Your Home: Cost

Let’s address the elephant in the room: repairs are essential, but so are upgrades, and an outdated home will inevitably take longer to sell. You really won’t know what repairs your home truly needs to fetch the best price in Las Vegas without inviting a professional outside opinion from a real estate professional, or someone involved in the housing industry. For anyone looking to seeking to sell their home quickly, the cost of repairs and upgrades can be off-putting, and supercede the value. It takes time to find an affordable, reliable contractor, then the costs of upgrades, in particular, won’t be cheap.

Time

Some repairs and upgrades for your home may take weeks, and may render parts of your home unusable. Especially in the case of bathrooms and kitchens, repairs and upgrades can affect your daily routine, and nobody wants that. And if it turns out that what your home needs is renovations, you can expect them to take at least a couple of weeks, and will cost you both the price of the services, and the price of materials. 

Mess

An inevitable part of repairing your home is the necessary mess that contractors create. Most are good about cleaning up after themselves, but many will leave dirt and sometimes debris behind. This is frustrating, of course, but it’s part of the process. 

Scams

As mentioned before, it takes time and research to find an affordable and reliable contractor to do all of the fixing up work that your home needs. This opens consumers to the throes of ill-intentioned scam artists that promise you something for your money, ask you to sign a contract, and renege once the work has started. Everyone is vulnerable to this, so it’s important to use your friends, colleagues, and any real estate professionals that are nearby for help in choosing a company. Scam artists may also turn out to be thieves, the last thing you need when you’re trying to sell your home, and fulfill your daily obligations. 

Contact a Local Real Estate Agent

If you’re not wanting to do any fixing or upgrading to your home before selling, you could still easily put your home on the market. The more buyers in the market, the better your chances of getting the best price for your property. Whether you fix your home before you list it, or list it without any of the repairs or upgrades, your best bet is contacting a local real estate agent to help you. Not only will you be able to get more money (agent-represented properties averaged around $60,000 more than For Sale by Owner Properties last year), but you may have an option that you probably didn’t consider: that a real estate agent would actually want to buy your home themselves. This might lower the amount that you get for your home, but if you’re looking to sell your home quickly, this could be the option you’ve been waiting for.